Kernels Nuggets: Jorge And The Hitters Shine

Here are some notes from Monday night’s game in Cedar Rapids and some additional notes.

FELIX JORGE SHINES

Following Felix Jorge’s seven shutout innings on Monday night, Kernels manager Jake Mauer called it a “Great start. Just to watch his poise and the look in his eyes, it was a lot different than when he took the mound out here last year.”

2014 was a strange season for Jorge. He came into the 2014 season as one of the more intriguing pitching prospects in the system. A year earlier, at Elizabethton, he went 2-2 with a 2.95 ERA. He had 72 strikeouts and just 18 walks in 61 innings.

He moved up to Cedar Rapids to start last season, but he struggled mightily. In 12 games (8 starts), he went 2-5 with a 9.00 ERA In 39 innings, he gave up 57 hits, walked 20 and struck out 23. He was finally sent down to Elizabethton when the short-season started and was named the Appy League Pitcher of the Year. He went 4-2 with a 2.59 ERA in 12 starts. In 66 innings, he walked just 14 and struck out 61.

Those numbers, coupled with his struggles a year ago, make the 6-2, 170 pound right-hander one of the more intriguing prospects again in 2015. On Monday night, he gave the Kernels and the Twins reason for optimism.

Jorge completed seven shutout innings and gave up just two hits. He walked two and struck out ten. Through six innings, he had given up just one hit and one walk. His seventh inning started with a single and a walk, but after a visit from pitching coach Henry Bonilla, Jorge responded. He struck out the next two batters. He got a fly out to left field. It was a very good note to end his first start of the season.

Mauer discussed that seventh inning. “You get in that situation. It’s his runs and a shutout, you don’t want to turn it over to the bullpen. You want to give him a chance. I think he earned the right to give him a chance to keep the shutout. We got Theo up. I think he saw that, and he said, ‘You’re not taking me out.’ So that was pretty good.”

Left-hander Mike Theofanopolous came in and threw zeroes on the board in the eighth and ninth innings to maintain that shutout.

But the talk on this night revolved around Felix Jorge. Mauer reiterated, “It’s a testament to him. He went down to E-Town and worked his tail off. Henry (Bonilla) was down there and had him. He regained his confidence. His fastball command was good. He kind of used their aggressiveness against him. Using that fastball, getting outs early. He threw seven innings and he was up at only about 90 pitches. That’s pretty good.

So what is the scouting report on Jorge, and more important, what are the keys to his success going forward this season. According to Mauer, it starts with his fastball. Everything else feeds off of it.

“Fastball command, I think, is number one for him. He throws so many strikes, and a lot of them are up in the zone. For him, fastball command and learning how to get the ball down. Also, his secondary pitches have really improved and he’s able to throw those for a strike. Getting that ground ball to get out of innings. Anytime you’ve got a guy that throws a lot of strikes, they’re going to make contact obviously. It’s just a matter of understanding the type of contact you’d like them to make. Sinking it here, cutting it there, elevating when you have to with two strikes and then being able to bury one. He moved the ball up and down and in and out really well tonight.”

One observer – OK, me – noted that Jorge’s curveball looked really good on this night. Mauer said, “Yeah, he’s got a good breaking ball. It’s going to be a strikeout pitch for him.”

According to the stadium radar gun (and adding for the two miles per hour that it is purported to be), Jorge’s fastball sat between 89 and 92, touching 93 a few times. His curveball was usually in the upper-70s and dropped. He stayed on top of it throughout the game. As impressive, he showed a calm, a poise, even in those rare times that he did allow base runners.

It was a terrific start to Jorge’s 2015 season. After his struggles in the Midwest League in 2015, it was likely a nice obstacle for him to overcome. Hopefully it can springboard him into a strong season. If so, he certainly is someone who could rocket back up prospect rankings. It is easy to forget – and important to remember - that he is still just 21-years-old.

KERNELS NUGGETS

The Kernels had batting practice on the field. First baseman Tyler Kuresa put on a very strong power display in BP, hitting several balls well over the fence in right field. After the team’s batting practice was complete and the team was in its locker room, Kuresa went to the batting cage under the stadium. He hit another 100 baseballs off the tee. He was by himself. He was focused.

The extra work paid off during the game, and early. He came to the plate with a runner on in the second inning. He got a fastball and he got all of it, hitting a rocket over the fence in right-center field. Mauer said, “It was fun to see Kuresa get the head out. He’s been working really hard on it all spring with Tommy, and he turned on it and that ball got out in a hurry.”

He added a single later, but he hit the ball on a line a couple of times.

Second baseman Pat Kelly was the Twins 12^th round pick in 2014 out of the University of Nebraska. He is a native of Red Wing, Minnesota. He played just one of the first four Kernels game, but he took advantage of the playing time on Monday night with a good game. In his first at-bat, he rocketed a double. In his second at-bat, he did more. With two runners on, Kelly launched a three-run homer over the left field wall. “It was a fastball, fastball in. I just reacted.”

Jake Mauer said it was a huge homer for Kelly and for the team. “Pat Kelly kept his hands in and got one over the fence there. That was a big three-run home run that really opened the game up.”

Robbinsdale, MN, native Max Murphy was out of the lineup on Sunday night for the first time this year. He was back in the lineup, hitting cleanup and playing right field. He hit the ball real hard. He had a triple to deep right center field.

Trey Vavra was back in the lineup after not playing Sunday as well. He played left field in this game after playing first base in the earlier games. It’s not a position he’s unfamiliar with. Last year at Elizabethton, he played 27 games at first base, but another 13 games he spent in left field. He was aggressive at the plate. He hit singles in his first two at-bats. The first was a hard-hit ground ball, the second provided a big RBI.

Nick Gordon was impressive again. He notched three more base hits and walked another time. He is now 9-21 (.429) on the season with two triples. He has a very smooth, left-handed swing and a good idea of the strike zone. Though he isn’t going to be a home run hitter yet, he does have some serious thump in his bat. From my not-a-scout-but-have-seen-a-lot perspective, I believe that he will develop some home run power over time. His first two hits in this game were both pulled. Late in the game, facing a left-handed reliever, Gordon stayed down on the ball really well and lined a single to left-field.

Mauer noted, “I don’t think he’s missed the barrel many times this year. Not yet, that’s for sure.”

That’s encouraging because of his young age relative to most of the league. He’s still able to get the barrel of the bat to the ball.

Last year, Jason Kanzler played a lot of center field and made a lot of web gems for the Kernels. Tanner English has been the primary center fielder so far for the Kernels (and likely will remain so other than the occasional day off). On Monday night, there was a low, line drive hit to center field. English came charging in and dove forward to make the lunging catch. That’s one of the more difficult plays a center fielder can make.

He has very good speed, but he looks natural out in center field. He appears to get really good jumps and take good routes to fly balls. Listed at just 5-10 (generous) and 160 pounds, the Twins 11^th round pick a year ago out of South Carolina is very talented.

According to Jake Mauer, “He’s really good defensively. He’s a guy that’s got a lot of tools, a lot of tools. I think he’s going to surprise some people.”

In one of the lighter moments in the postgame discussion with Mauer, he was asked about English’s approach at the plate. Mauer said, “He’s gotten way better. That’s what we’ve been working on is his being aggressive to his pitch. He took two sinkers that, earlier in the year, he was swinging at.”

Mauer caught himself and smiled. “Earlier in the year, like, three days ago.”

Right-hander Jared Wilson gets the start for the Kernels on Tuesday night against Beloit. Other than three starts in the GCL in 2013, Wilson has been a reliever. Even going back to college at UC-Santa Barbara. Last year, he moved up to the Kernels in May and posted a 2.95 ERA in 58 innings (56 strikeouts).He is getting a chance to start in 2014.

I asked him before Monday’s game if there would be a pitch or inning count on him this year because he had been a bullpen guy. Sure, he had just 58 innings with the Kernels year, but he said between spring training, some extended spring training, the Kernels season and Instructional League, he actually through close to 120 innings. He’s been stretched out this spring to start, so he thinks he should be able to throw 85 to 100 pitches, which isn’t limited at all.

The Kernels are off to a 5-0 start and really playing well. Some of the discussion in the press box has been, ‘Is this team really this good or are they playing weaker Midwest League teams to start the season?’

Obviously that’s to be determined as the season goes on, but I have been able to observe that there are a lot of very good baseball players on this roster.